Promises (14 page)

“Thank you, sir.
 
We’ll be there in forty-eight hours even if I have to drag her in.”
 

A slurping sound drew his attention as he hung up the phone.
 
Rocky, noisily lapping up the water in his bowl, or perhaps bathing in it was a better description, paused between slurps to look up.
 
  

“Mornin’ Monstro.”
 
He knew he’d have to deal with his four-legged problem before they left, but hadn’t quite figured out how yet.
 

The monster in question glanced across the room and Travis’ gaze followed.

Bobbi stood at the backdoor, fully dressed, staring at him.
 

He smiled.
 
“Good morning.”
 
She seemed more beautiful to him with each passing day.
 

Realizing she hadn’t answered his greeting, he took note of the firm grip she had on the door handle and the tenseness of her body.
 

The truth dawned.
 
She’d overheard some or all of his conversation with his boss.
 

“Bobbi, you’ve got to understand.”
 
He limped closer toward her, his hands outstretched in supplication.

Shaking her head, she took several wary steps back then spun around and darted out of sight.
 
He let her go.
 
Her workshop seemed to provide the solace she needed.

With a heavy sigh, he looked down at Rocky, busy eating his breakfast.
 
Travis decided to do the same, hoping she would come back inside as she had the other day after working everything out in her head.
 
But he still felt like a heel.
 
Again.
 

Why was he such a screw-up where she was concerned?
 
Lately, he didn’t seem to be able to do much of anything right, and was constantly letting the people he cared about down.

As he took one last hopeful glance out the backdoor, the sound of a car starting rumbled across the yard.
 
Rocky’s head shot up from his dish, and he scrambled to the door.
 
Together, they watched her Jeep charge out from behind the shop.

“Damn it!”
 
He and Rocky barreled through the screen door in hot pursuit.
 
“Bobbi!”
 
He hobbled down the drive after her.
 

She floored the gas pedal and sped off, kicking up rocks and dirt.
 
He stumbled to a stop as she disappeared around the curve while Rocky lumbered on a little farther then came back to his side.
 

Panic set in, keen and sharp.
 
Where the hell was she going?
 
Was she even coming back?
 
And where were Steele’s men now?
 
She had no protection with her of any kind.
 
Not even the beast.

He looked down at Rocky and his panic ebbed a bit.
 
She wouldn’t be gone for good.
 
She wouldn’t leave her faithful mutt behind.
 
She’d be back, as long as she didn’t meet anyone along the way.

As he pivoted to go back inside and wait, Rocky growled.

“Take it easy, boy.
 
She’ll be back soon.”
 

But the dog continued to growl.
 
Although not a full fledged, baring his teeth, menacing kind of growl, it still made Travis nervous.
 
He needed to diffuse the situation and fast.

He smiled down at the beast.
 
“Are you hungry, boy?
 
I’ve got an omelet with your name on it.”
 

The growling stopped abruptly and expectant eyes studied him.
 
Bribery could be a mighty useful tool.
 

Careful not to make any sudden movements, Travis made his way back inside while talking to the dog in a soothing tone.
 
Rocky followed, grumbling a time or two, but not growling, much to his relief.

Once inside, he prepared a special omelet for his furry companion.
 
Rocky found a comfortable spot in the corner next to his dish and waited.
 
It was kind of scary how the animal seemed to understand him.
   

Deciding not to test his wary friend’s patience, he slid the omelet into the dog’s bowl then stepped back and watched.
 
This would be the moment.
 
They would either become friends or enemies, although he wasn’t too keen on the idea of being overly friendly with the beast.
 
But he had to get Bobbi out of there, and he wouldn’t be able to do it with Rocky in the way.

The dog sniffed at his bowl, eyed him, then daintily, a word he never would have applied to the big lumbering fur-ball, nibbled at the food.
 
After a few seconds he chowed-down on the omelet.
 

Travis let out a sigh of relief and turned back to the stove.
 
He couldn’t watch.
 
It turned his stomach the way Rocky drooled, and he wasn’t about to wipe his face the way Bobbi did.
 
Nothing this side of Hades could get him to put his hands anywhere near that dog’s mouth.

As his thoughts returned to Bobbi, he whipped up some pancake batter and poured it into the pan.
 
She was so blasted impulsive!
 
A trait that would likely get her killed.
 
She’d been fine until he showed up.
 
He practically led Steele’s men right to her.
 
If only he’d stayed away.
 

No, they would have found her eventually.
 
They wanted her too badly.
 
But today, the way she tore out of there was definitely his fault.
 
If she didn’t come back soon and in one piece, he’d never forgive himself.

The smell of smoke tickled his nose.

“Damn it.”
 
So wrapped up with guilt and worry, he’d burned the pancakes.
 
Grumbling to himself about being a class-A, number one idiot, he scrubbed the pan and started over again.

Bobbi jerked the steering wheel, squealing around a curve.
 
What did she ever see in that
—
that ogre?
 
“Drag me in,” she grumbled.

Oh, why did she have to get involved in Jason’s work?
 
And where was he?
 
She refused to believe he was dead.
 
He was out there somewhere doing what he did best, and she intended to wait for him, just as she promised.
 
More than anything she wanted him to magically appear, and tell her the horrible game had come to an end.
 
That the bad guys were in jail, and she could get on with her life, but that didn’t seem very likely at the moment.
 

She sniffled softly, holding back the tears.
 
Her life was an absolute mess.
 
Completely turned upside down and inside out by her unwelcome houseguest who had succeeded in knocking her clean off her feet.

Growling softly, she took a turn toward town.
 
Why did he have to be just like Jason?
 
The two goons thought she was still a kid that needed to be taken care of and looked after.
 
It made her boiling mad, but the sight of Travis in her rearview mirror as she tore off down the drive squeezed her heart.
 
The rat had gotten under her defenses and permanently set up camp.
 
She thought about him all the time, she wanted him all the time.
 
It was enough to make a girl batty.
 

“Well, I refuse to allow you to interfere with my life any longer.”
 
She was not a child and could take care of herself, Steele’s men be damned.
 

She pressed harder on the gas pedal.
 
The slimy visitor had scared her all right, but she wouldn’t let him win.
 
She’d live through this mess, and one day soon she and Jason would look back on it all and laugh.
 
Well, maybe not laugh, but they would look back together.
 
Without Agent Reid.

Pulling up to the post office in Gator Creek, she looked around for anything unusual before turning off the engine.
 
Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but this was the first time she’d come into town without Rocky.
 
She felt alone and vulnerable, and scared half to death.
   

“I’ll just check my post office box as usual then go home.”
 
It sounded simple enough.
 
Now if she could only get her legs to move.
 

Grasping her shaking hands, she took a deep breath before stepping out of the Jeep.
 
She strolled into the post office as though she hadn’t a care in the world.
 
Once she opened her box, pulled out her mail and shoved it under her arm, she headed back to the car.
 

“There.
 
That wasn’t so hard,” she mumbled.
 

Reaching out to open her door, a hand wrapped tightly around her forearm and she froze.

“Are you okay, Jill?”
 
Leanne Summers, Ted’s receptionist asked, as she released her arm and bent down to gather the mail she’d dropped.

Air whooshed from her lungs.
 
“Leanne.
 
You startled me.”
 
She squatted down and grabbed the remaining envelopes.
 

“I called your name several times, but you seemed a million miles away.”
 

“I guess I was.
 
Sorry.”
 
Taking the mail she’d gathered for her, she managed a small smile.
 

Bobbi’s experience in dealing with so many different kinds of people had made her a good quick judge of character, and Leanne Summers was definitely a character.
 
She spoke with a thick, sweet southern drawl, and tended to call everyone sugar.
 
Even perfect strangers.
 

Her long, wavy black hair, her perfectly applied makeup, and the smooth milky tone of her skin made her stand out from the usual types in Gator Creek.
 
Or anywhere else, for that matter.
 
Beauty queen was practically stamped across her flawless forehead, but Bobbi genuinely liked her, although she didn’t know her well.
 

Leanne started working with Ted a few weeks back.
 
He had introduced them once when she ran into him in town after he’d taken care of her hand, and she had exchanged a wave with Leanne now and then or some other idle chitchat, but that was all.

“Where’s Rocky?
 
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without him?”

“Oh, I left him at home. Well, I really need to get back.”

“Sure.
 
I don’t want to keep you.
 
I just thought I’d say hello.”
 
She let out a long puff of air.
 
“No, that’s not true.
 
I mean, I did want to say hello, but I need to ask you something.
 
Something personal.”

“All right,” she replied, unable to hide the hint of wariness in her voice.
 
Had Ted told her about Travis?
 
Did she know more than was wise?
 
She couldn’t bear the thought of someone else involved in this dangerous mess.

“I’ll just be blunt and get down to it.
 
It’s about Dr. Stamens.
 
I know he’s got a thing for you, and I was wondering if the feeling went both ways.”

Bobbi blinked a moment, thrown by such a frank question, then grinned broadly.
 
“You want to know if you’ve got competition, is that it?”

“You got it, sugar.
 
I wouldn’t feel right about catching that man’s attention if he was already involved.”
 

Bobbi bit her lip, holding back her chuckle.
 
Leanne’s vibrant, outward nature would fit perfectly, like a missing puzzle piece, with Ted’s shyness.
 
Her brow creased.
 
How could the man not notice her?
 
She was gorgeous, available, and interested.
 
Bobbi wasn’t any slouch in the looks department, but Leanne had the whole exotic thing going.
 

“He hasn’t noticed you?
 
As a woman, I mean.”
   

She waved her brightly painted nails in the air.
 
“Oh, I’ve caught him looking a time or two, but he always turns red and runs off.
 
I figured he felt guilty about looking at me, when he was involved with you.
 
But as I hear it, you too haven’t gone out yet.
 
That’s what made me decide to just come right out and ask you what’s what.”

Bobbi shook her head with a chuckle.
 
“Leanne, as much as I like Ted, I’m not interested in him that way.
 
And if you want my honest opinion, he runs off, as you put it, because you scare the daylights out of him.”

Leanne’s smile blossomed.
 
“Well that’s a relief.
 
I should’ve come talked to you earlier.
 
Now, I’ve got a lot of flirting to catch up on.”

“Good luck,” she said with a wave as Leanne strolled down the street toward the clinic.

“Luck’s got nothing to do with it, sugar,” she replied with a bawdy wink.

Bobbi couldn’t help laughing as she climbed into the jeep.
 
Poor Doctor Stamens, Bobbi thought, as she locked her door.
 
He didn’t stand a chance.
 
At least she wouldn’t be thinking of him pining away for her after she turned him down.
 
Not with Leanne in the picture.

Thinking of men pining away, she started up the Jeep and pulled out of the parking space.
 
She really did need to get home.
 
If Steele’s men had gone back to the cabin, Travis would be forced to face them on his own.
 
Not to mention Rocky might decide he didn’t exactly make good roommate material and take a bite out of him.

“Ha!
 
Now who’s protecting whom?”
 
The man could take perfectly good care of himself, and he wasn’t pining away for her.
 
Most likely he was thoroughly ticked off.
 
Still, he had almost been killed.
 
How much longer would his luck hold out?

Nearing the driveway to the cabin, she came to a decision.
 
Like it or not, they stood a better chance at winning this horrible game if they stuck together and watched one another’s backs.
 

“Wait a minute.
 
When did this become a we thing?” she asked herself.

She sighed heavily.
 
He really had worked his way into her life and under her skin.
 
Well, she’d have to do everything in her power not to get too close to him because once the play ended they would go their separate ways.
 
She could not, would not become attached to the big ape.
 
No matter what she felt for him, which was one big jumbled-up mass of confusion at the moment.
 

She pulled the Jeep back into the garage on the far side of the workshop.
 
Facing him again wasn’t going to be easy.
 
She seemed to constantly be running from the man then running right back, but she didn’t have much choice.
 

With her mail in hand, she started toward the cabin.
 
Her stomach growled at the delicious smell of breakfast the minute she stepped inside.
 
When she got up before the sun that morning after a rough and tumbled night’s sleep, she’d completely bypassed nourishment and went out to work on a few projects.
 
Anything to get her mind off of Travis.

“Welcome back.”
 
He kept his eyes focused on the stove.
 

She sensed his anger, but could swear more lurked amid his terse greeting.
 
At least he’d finished dressing, and she’d be spared the sight of his gorgeous chest.
 

Lifting his head, he turned a stony face toward her.
 
“Would you like some breakfast?”
 

Hmm.
 
Definitely anger there.
 
No doubt about it.
 
Well, tough cookies
.
 

“Yes, thank you.”
 
Calmly, she took a seat at the table and opened her mail while he flipped pancakes.
 

A few more catalog orders, a couple of requests for special pieces, nothing out of the ordinary.
 

With a thump, her plate appeared before her along with a jar of marmalade.

“We’re out of syrup.
 
I hope this is all right.”
 

We
.
 
It sounded so nice, so domestic.
 
As though they were a couple and this their normal morning routine, except they’d just had a fight.
 

Oh, she wished she hadn’t thought of that.
 
Now she’d be imagining how a real couple would make up.
 
“It’s fine, thank you.”
 

Glopping some marmalade atop her pancakes, she proceeded to take her first bite.
 
Food was always a good distraction, but she could feel his gaze on her.
 
Watching, studying, cataloging every move.
 
The unnerving attention lodged the sweet morsel firmly in her throat.

“Did you enjoy your little trip?”
 

His sarcasm struck an irritated chord, but she ignored it and nodded.

He took a slow steady sip of his coffee. “Did you see anyone or anything out of the ordinary?”
 

She gulped down some juice, pushing the food down her constricted throat.
 
“No.”

“Are you sure?”

She laid her fork down on her plate with a clank.
 
What was this, an inquisition?
 
She made it home, safe and sound.
 
He had no right to behave as if she’d broken some cardinal rule by going into town by herself.
 
She was an adult.
 
Not a child and not his responsibility.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

His face turned a slight shade of red.
 
“Look, if you want to risk that pretty little backside of yours, then go off whenever you get the urge.
 
It’s fine by me.
 
Rocky and I’ll hold down the fort ‘till you get back.”

“Oh, right.
 
You and Rocky,” she said with a sniff.
 
And what did he mean by pretty little backside?

He glowered as he shifted restlessly in his seat.
 
“We came to an understanding.”

She glanced at Rocky, lying sleepily next to his bowl and realized he hadn’t even greeted her when she came in.
 

His perfectly clean bowl.
 
Whatever Travis had fed him was probably good enough for a human to eat.
 

Wonderful, just what she needed.
 
A two hundred-pound guard dog that preferred people food.
 
He’d suck her grocery budget up faster than her shop-vacuum sucked up wood shavings.

“I’m glad you got back safe, Bobbi.”

His abrupt change of tone cooled her flaring temper, but she refused to admit how pleased she was that he had worried about her.
 

“There was never any threat,” she lied, remembering how easily Leanne had surprised her.
 

He stood up abruptly and moved to the sink before turning his acrid gaze on her.
 
“When are you going to get it through that bleached hard head of yours that Steele wants you, and he means business?
 
Jase is dead, Bobbi, and that’s what’s going to happen to you if you aren’t careful.”

She calmly laid down her fork, took one last swallow of her juice then stood.
 
“Jason isn’t dead,” she said coolly, as she carried her plate to the sink.
 
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.
 
Thank you for breakfast.”

She walked out with a steady gait and her chin high.
 
She would not let him see her cry.
 
Hearing him declare so bluntly that her brother was dead felt like a knife being thrust in her heart.
 
He felt responsible for her because of his promise to a friend.
 
She couldn’t fault him for that, but she would not believe for one second Jason was dead.

Her nerves calmed a little as she entered the workshop, although tears still begged to be released.
 
She ran her hand over the dragon she’d finished carving on the head of the cane the night before.
 
A little love went into every design, but she couldn’t deny that a bit more care had gone into creating the cane.
 
After all, he’d gotten shot looking for her or evidence regarding her disappearance, and he was Jason’s best friend.

“Oh, Jason.
 
I miss you so much.”
 
She sniffled, deciding to wait until her tears had dried up and she had a firm control over her emotions before giving Travis the cane.
 

Picking up a piece of sandpaper, she got comfortable on her stool.
 
Work would soothe her, it always did.

Travis bit back a curse as he watched Bobbi go back to her shop.
 
He seemed to experience that particular view quite a bit.
 
Not that he minded observing the tantalizing sway of her hips as she walked down the path, but the reason behind it sickened him.
 

Yep, he’d done it again.
 
How many times did he plan on driving the woman away from him?
 
It was a wonder she spoke to him at all.
 
Taking his frustrations out on the dishes, clanging and banging the pots and pans as he washed, his attitude gradually improved, and he knew he had some apologizing to do.
 

With his new furry comrade lumbering along side, he hobbled down the path and into the workshop.
 
Stopping just inside the door, he watched her for a moment, engrossed in her work.
 

He felt lousy about ripping her away from something she obviously cared a great deal about, but her life was in danger.
 
There was simply no other way, yet he didn’t have to be such a hard-ass about it.
 
She was still struggling with the loss of her brother and so was he.
 
They were both grieving, and it didn’t do either of them any good for him to keep bringing it up and throwing it in her face.
 
She would deal with it in her own way, in her own time.